Hotel Goverdhan Palace Mathura

... wash ( as the Muslims do before entering) and then the guy where we put our shoes wanted money ( shoe parking money!!) , and I thought no way never have at a mosque before so we left. It was an amazing structure in any case and we were glad to have seen it. From here we got some dinner at a local thali café which was recommended in my guide book. A very local place, no foreigners and no English spoken and we were served a thali plate with small pots of curries, yoghurt and puffed ...

... but their window site was
excellent as we were able to see the Taj from the window and it looks
gorgeous in moon light.
On the next day at 9 am we all got up and after having continental
b'fast which was complimentary from the Hotel, we were ready to go.The
b'fast was good.
A travel desk was there in the Hotel and we got the information of all
the tourist places in Agra and hired a car from there ...

... wool, cleansing solution, iodine and betadine, bandages, gauze and even an arm sling. I set up a mini surgery in the bathroom then cleaned the cut well and tried to close it up with skin closure bandaid plasters then and put a pressure bandage on it. I gave Nads some pain killers and i was feeling fairly confident about being in control and Nads had calmed down but then as she lifted her arm off the pillow, blood started to stream from it and large red stain began to spread across the ...

... the loo leaving many visitors compelely bewildered!

Unfortunately I spend a good few hours on the loo and I identified the cause to be that deadly mango juice I had drunk earlier in the day. I did get to see a bit of a sunset but by now the monsoon clouds were too thick to give anything spectacular.

I went to the station and caught my train to Delhi that evening having overcome my dodgy stomach and without even taking immodium!

... however, they seemed relieved and satisfied, saying "I found out again that Japan is the best country!". How stupid Japanese people! They don't even compare and understand the differences between Japan and the country they visit and how can they say "Japan is the best!". I am tired of that kind of country fellows or amaturish tourists.

On the night, we had Chinese dinner in the multi cuisine restaurant, TAJMAHAL. The ...

... why I travel alone most of the time, because of mandatory stops like this. We finally left there and went to the Agra Fort or Red Fort. It is a marvelous structure and offers a lot to discover, but because of the heat and all the time wasted, we flew thru it in less than an hour. I could have easily spent 2 or 3 hours there exploring and discovering. Instead we were cattled here and here and here and back to the bus. What about there and there and there? Oh well ...

... the facilities greatest desire is that in 30 years time they can close the facility, meaning that no more sloth bears are being used or abused and are living naturally in the wild! As for our day at the center, the very kind and generous Sid showed us around and explained about the center. we saw the quarantine facilities where all bears are placed upon arrival. We saw the large habitats were the bears live, each ...

Zkejsli sme tady vo trosku dyl nez sme chteli. Problem je, ze je zase nejakej festival. Po cely Indii. Ne velikonoce!!!! A hrozne tezko se shani jizdenky na vlak. Ale zejtra vodjizdime do Jansi. Rano, vlakem prvni tridy. Po tom autobusouvym zazitku se musime trosku vodmenit. Je to prej pet a pul hodiny...ale indicky...Abych zacal vod zacatku. Pratele cumet vosobne na Taj Mahal a sahnout si na nej je vopravdu zazitek ...

... vecir vod sedmi estrada indickejch zpevu a tancu. Rekli sme si ze to teda nesmime misnout. Nastesti to trvalo jenom ctyricetdva minut a sestnact vterin. Macata indka tam mavala rukama a na hlave mela nejdriv jeden hrnec, potom dva, pak tri..ctyri....po sedmym uz sem chtel vodejit ale za nama bylo v ouzkej ulicce moc lidi. Nastesti to u devatyho hrnce zkoncilo. Pak vybeh hrozne hubenej ind a poskakoval dokola s loutkou na provazku. Pak vybehlo hejno ...

... several hours at the Taj Mahal. It was awesome and its reputation is truly well deserved. Amusingly we had several photo ops as half a dozen Indian families asked us to sit in the middle of their holiday snaps! Agra does get a bad name due to the large number of touts that operate in the area and we can certainly vouch for their persistence, (thick skin and partial deafness helps here) but it really was worth the visit. Caroline and Mark